WEST GOSHEN – With just three head coaches in the program’s first 85 seasons, West Chester men’s soccer has a remarkable history of stability. The contentious, eight-month drama surrounding Kendall Walkes’ eventual exit, however, changed all that.

Walkes’ replacement, Michael Benn, comes to WCU following perhaps the program’s most tumultuous period ever, but brighter days appear on the horizon. With previous experience as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level, Benn stood out among a long, deep list of applicants who were interested in the job. And along with a new head coach, who was officially hired Monday, West Chester will be playing on the artificial turf of its new soccer stadium when the 2013 season gets underway.

“To be able to be a head coach in such a quality athletic department and a program with a history like the men’s soccer program here is very exciting,” said Benn, 39, who spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant at Lehigh under West Chester alum Dean Koski. “I couldn’t be any happier about it.”

According to WCU athletic director Ed Matejkovic, Benn beat out nearly 100 applicants to succeed Walkes, who was suspended last fall for allegedly making inappropriate comments to the team. Walkes – who had a 213-189-33 record in 23 seasons at West Chester -- eventually resigned as part of a severance deal this spring, angering a vocal group of former players.

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“We had to start all over again,” Matejkovic said. “I don’t like replacing coaches. It’s the most tedious thing that we do, but that’s my job and that’s what I had to do.”

The search committee, headed by associate athletic director Terry Beattie, whittled down the candidates to nine, who were interviewed via Skype, and then the top five were brought to campus for formal interviews.

“There were so many good candidates, we felt we had to do it that way,” Matejkovic said. “I am sure the new facility helped with the number of people who were interested. Plus, we are successful in almost every sport, and coaches want to go to places where they think they can be successful.”

Benn has 17 years of coaching experience at the Division I level, including two seasons as the head coach at East Carolina. And he’s spent most of his adult life first playing, and then coaching, for Koski at Lehigh. Benn acknowledged that he leaned heavily on his mentor during the entire process.

“I was very entrenched at Lehigh,” Benn acknowledged. “But when this opportunity presented itself, it aligned with where I want to be. I am ready to be a head coach again. It was a kind of ‘right place, right time’ situation.

“This area of the country is a great place to be. It is a very desirable job and I am certainly humbled that I was selected to be the next person to lead the program. To be just the fourth head coach in 85 years says that this is a job where coaches have been happy and believe they can be successful here. I am hoping to add to that legacy.”

Walkes was just six wins shy of overtaking his mentor, legendary coach Mel Lorback, for first on WCU’s all-time wins list when he was suspended on Sept. 22. The Golden Rams’ only other men’s soccer coach was Muddy Waters, who starting the program in 1928.

In 2003 and 2004, Benn had a 10-22-3 record at ECU, but the Pirates had just one winning year in 41 seasons. The program was discontinued after the 2005 campaign.

“(Benn) is respected in the soccer community,” Matejkovic said. “I am not a soccer guy, so I have to hear what people in that community say about anybody who is interested in a position at West Chester. I heard a lot of good things about Michael.

“He comes from a really good program at Lehigh, he has extensive coaching experience and he is used to recruiting kids that can compete in the classroom and on the field, and those are the kids we need to recruit at West Chester.”

When asked about his soccer philosophy, Benn mentioned several times that he is “a team-first guy,” and said that he wanted his squads to employ a high-energy, up-the-field style of play.

“We want to get after teams on both ends of the field,” he explained. “When we don’t have the ball, we will try to win it back as quickly as we can. And when we do have the ball, we want to try to put (opponents) under pressure by continually going at them and trying to wear them down.”

Benn inherits a program that went 8-8-2 in 2012, finished second in the PSAC standings and advanced to the conference semifinals despite Walkes’ mid-season departure. It was WCU’s first playoff appearance since 2007, with the final nine matches coming under interim coach Dan DeMasters.

One of Benn’s first challenges will be to court and win over disgruntled alumni players who were upset by Walkes’ dismissal. The season opener is scheduled for Sept. 7th and the first home game will follow on Sept. 9th against Caldwell College.

“To be honest, I don’t know much about the situation before I came here,” Benn said. “I am certainly looking forward to involving alumni in the program. One of the things I hope to bring with me from my experiences at Lehigh is that our alumni were tremendous supporters of the program and I hope to continue that tradition.”